30.3.06

Uh-oh #2

Zinda Blake, the Lady Blackhawk, is a character I was introduced to through Birds of Prey. Since I'm not terribly clued in on Golden Age characters , I did some background reading, and found the following picture on a Blackhawks fansite. This image is from Who's Who Update 1987, with art by Brian Bolland, the man who drew many of the Blackhawk's adventures. Not an unusual drawing, and the artwork is reasonably good. Yes, Zinda's outfit looks more dominatrix than fighter pilot, but this was the Golden Age, so I could let it pass.

Until someone drew my attention to the bottom left corner.

Um, yes. So thats Lady Blackhawk parachuting down in a miniskirt while the rest of her team (all men) stand on the ground and cheer.

While that is wrongness enough, there is still the question of why anyone whose job description includes parachuting would hang around in a short skirt. Looking through old issues, I found that she did this quite often.

Yes, gasping is an appropriate response.And the leather mini isn't the only fetish.

But then, superheroines aren't really known for sensible outfits. Parachuting in a skirt may be silly, but so many others like Supergirl and Marvel Girl actually fly around in barely-there skirts. At this point I will remind people of the time when Lady Blackhawk temporarily gained superpowers.

See the men stare.OK, I'll stop now.

Finally, as an aside - notice the funny Oriental man hanging on to her chest. That's Chop-Chop - one of the worst examples of racial caricatures in comics. Maybe I'll do a post on him later. But only after one on Supergirl's skirt.

Okay, this is long and doesn't have much of a punchline, so please forgive.

In the Elseworlds story 'Supergirl & Batgirl: Elseworld's Finest', written by Barbara Kesel, there's this nice little joke, where Supergirl, wearing tights, flies Luthor down to a gathered crowd, and Luthor tells her she should've dressed up in a gown, as befits her 'angel' image, and she replies, "Flying down over them in a dress? That's not the image I want them to have."